Nottingham Forest coach Nuno Espirito Santo has backed Taiwo Awoniyi despite his penalty miss in their EFL Cup loss to Newcastle United on Wednesday, Soccernet.ng reports.
Awoniyi has struggled with fitness problems since he joined Nottingham Forest from Union Berlin two seasons ago.
The 27-year-old striker arrived with a big reputation after impressing at Union Berlin, but injuries have been his bane. Due to his constant problems, English striker Chris Wood has taken over his place as the first-choice striker at Nottingham Forest.
Awoniyi started from the bench in Nottingham Forest’s first two Premier League games of the season, but he got his first start when they took on Newcastle in the EFL Cup on Wednesday.
However, the Super Eagles star failed to find the net in normal time. Unfortunately for him, he also missed Nottingham Forest’s last penalty in the penalty shootout, costing the Tricky Trees the game.
Nonetheless, Espirito Santo was quite understanding in his analysis of the game. He stated that he let Awoniyi play the entire fixture so as to gain match fitness.
“It(Awoniyi’s performance) was good. In the end it was clear he (Awoniyi) was lacking some energy but he worked very hard until the end,” Espirito Santo said, per Nottingham Post.
“He had two or three good chances to finish. We want to give Taiwo this opportunity to raise his levels of fitness because the talent is there.”
“You cannot ignore the (penalty) moment for all of us, especially for the player involved in that situation. But we are here to support him and we don’t have too much time for sorrow because we go again on Saturday.”
Next up for the Tricky Trees is a Premier League fixture against Wolverhampton Wanderers at the City Ground on Saturday.